How the Wild One?
by Bluegirl285
Summary: This story takes place almost immediately after the episode "Two to Tangu." Why did Amber and Sofia get a wild carpet to begin with? Was it a mistake, or something more...?


Prince James of Enchancia and Prince Zandar of Tangu listened in stunned silence as James' sisters Sofia and Amber told the boys of their adventure with the wild carpet they had wound up with. As if that were unbelievable enough, the girls also told them about how Princess Jasmine of Agrabah had helped them tame the carpet enough to get them to Tangu and back for the concert.

To say James was upset at the news was the understatement of a lifetime. It seemed very strange to him when the girls told him they had gotten lost, seeing as how earlier Zandar had explained that you simply had to tell the carpet where to go and it would take you there. Everyone else had made it safely, even though they had never used flying carpets before. So after the concert, which was nothing short of amazing, James pulled Amber and Sofia aside and asked them repeatedly what really happened. Finally, they told the story, first to him and then to both him and Zandar. In Amber's case, it was so she could get her brother to shut up.

As the girls finished their second telling, Prince Zandar spoke up, "I don't believe it. You guys REALLY saw Princess Jasmine?"

At that, James turned toward his friend and angrily punched him in the shoulder. Hard.

"Ow! Hey! What was that for?" Zandar demanded as he rubbed his shoulder.

"What was that for? Are you kidding me?" James snapped. "My sisters nearly get killed by a wild carpet that YOU gave them, and all you care about is that they saw Princess Jasmine?!"

"James, you didn't have to hit him," Sofia quietly admonished her brother. "And it wasn't as bad as you put it just now."

"Hel-lo?! Weren't you and Amber the ones who said earlier that the carpet threw you off SEVERAL times?!" James glared at Zandar. "And that Jasmine herself said it was a WILD carpet?"

"James, do us all a favor and don't act so overprotective and melodramatic," Amber chided. "It really doesn't suit you at all."

"It is very strange that you two ended up with a wild carpet," Zandar looked confused. "None of the carpets I gave you all SHOULD have been wild. The Carpet Master himself assured me they were all tame."

"The who?" All three royal siblings turned toward Zandar, questioning looks on their faces.

"The Carpet Master," Zandar explained. "He's the one who makes and tames all the magic carpets in Tangu and he provided all the magic carpets we saw today. He told me once that when he and his apprentices are not taming the wild carpets, they'll roll them and tie them up so they won't escape and try to hurt anybody."

"If that's the case, then how did THIS one end up loose?" James asked, pointing to the just-tamed carpet that had "stood" itself between Sofia and Amber.

"I don't know, but that's what I want to find out," Zandar answered. "I'm going to the Carpet Master's workshop and have a talk with him."

"We'll go with you," Sofia piped up, referring to her and Amber. "We need to return this carpet anyway, and I think it'll only listen to us."

With that, the two princes and two princesses all made their way to the workshop of the Carpet Master. It was a short walk, as the shop was just outside the palace. Upon first walking in, the siblings were amazed at all the magic carpets stacked floor to ceiling. In the middle of all this was an old man sitting cross-legged, a low table in front of him. There was no doubt in any of the children's minds that this was The Carpet Master. As they approached him, Zandar put his hands together and respectfully bowed low before the old man. The siblings followed suit. A wizened old fellow with a long, white beard, he listened incredulously as the sisters once again repeated their story.

"Forgive me for sounding skeptic, young highnesses," the old man began after clearing his throat. "But this carpet cannot be a wild one. As I told Prince Zandar, all the wild carpets are tied up."

"Could this carpet have accidentally been switched with another one?" Sofia asked. "A tame one that looks just like it?"

"A reasonable hypothesis, princess," the Carpet Master said. "But unlikely. You see, I checked all the carpets today just before releasing them to Prince Zandar. And they were all as tame as that one you now possess seems to be."

"The only reason this one is tame is because my sister and I are the ones who tamed it," Amber said a little haughtily. "And that's only after Jasmine helped us."

"You'll forgive me, once again, for sounding unconvinced, but to tame a wild carpet takes a few weeks, if not months," the Carpet Master explained. "To tame a carpet enough to follow simple directions should not take less than a day, much less no more than an hour."

"Any other day, I would agree with you, sir," Zandar said. "But if you can see for yourself, the carpet won't let anyone but the girls near it. Not even me or James. Not the typical behavior of a tamed carpet."

"Let us see," the Carpet Master said. He gestured to one of his apprentices who was standing by and the young man walked forward toward the carpet. What followed for the next couple of minutes was an amusing scene as the apprentice tried to chase the carpet, which went this way and that to avoid being grabbed. Always whenever the carpet dodged the man, it made it's way back to the girls. It even, at one point, wrapped itself around Amber and Sofia and refused to budge, though it posed no danger to them. Finally, the tired-out apprentice gave up and the carpet unwrapped itself and proceeded to hide behind the princesses.

The Carpet Master, who had been watching all this with a slightly amused look on his face, began rubbing his bearded chin as he comtemplated what he had just witnessed.

"Hmmm, yes I see what you mean, Prince Zandar."

With that, he gestured to another of his apprentices, a man who looked older than the one who chased the carpet, to come forward, and instructed him: "Go find the wild carpet that looks just like this one and bring it here."

As the apprentice bowed and walked away, Zandar explained to his friends, "The Carpet Master will let only his senior apprentices handle and tame the wild carpets. He doesn't allow the younger ones to even go near the room where they are kept."

After a few minutes, the apprentice returned with a rolled-up carpet that had been tied up with rope. Even rolled, the children could see that this carpet bore a near resemblance to the one the girls rode on all day.

When the rope was untied and the carpet unrolled, one thing became perfectly obvious right away: the carpet's "excitement" at being unbound and it's obedient behavior left no doubt in anyone's minds that this was a tame carpet. The senior apprentice who fetched the carpet paled at this revelation, while the Carpet Master's eyebrows merely raised in surprise.

"B-but Master," the senior sputtered. "I oversaw the binding myself and I know none were tame! And you yourself...!"

The Carpet Master raised his hand, and the senior snapped his mouth closed. Again, the old man rubbed his beard and pondered.

"And so, it appears there has been an oversight,"the Carpet Master declared. "Clearly, this tame carpet was tied up, and the wild one allowed to join the others today, as you yourself asked earlier, Princess Sofia."

"There, you see," Zandar said to James with a sigh of relief. "It was just a simple mix-up, that's all."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," James sheepishly faced his friend. "Sorry I hit you earlier back there."

"That's all right," Zandar placed a hand on James's shoulder. "I'm sure if I had sisters, I'd be just as protective of them."

"Um, I hate to interrupt, but it's getting late," Sofia chimed in. "We should get back to the palace so we can take the carriage home."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," Zandar said. He turned and once again bowed to the Carpet Master, with the other royals following suit. "Thank you for your help, sir."

"Always a pleasure, young highness," the Master bowed back. "A thousand apologies for all the trouble your young friends endured, but I do hope you and your friends deem to visit my workshop again. I will have to give you a tour next time."

The children, even Amber, declared that no apologies were needed and they all promised they would come back soon and started heading back towards the palace. As they were leaving, however, the wild carpet flung itself at Sophia and clung to the skirt of her dress.

Sophia gave the carpet a sad smile and said, "Sorry, carpet. I wish you could come with us, but you need to stay here so you can be trained more. I'm afraid I don't know more about taming than what Jasmine told us today."

"Besides, we won't be gone forever," Amber gave the shivering carpet a pat on its "back." "We did promise to come back soon. You still owe us another ride."

"But you have to stay here," Sofia stressed. "What do you say?"

The carpet seemed to consider this, then appeared to nod and let Sofia go. After hugging both girls and waving goodbye with its tassel, it allowed itself to be led away by one of the apprentices.

As soon as the children walked away and were out of sight, the rest of the apprentices present turned to the Carpet Master, each with a confused look on his face.

"But Master," one of the seniors spoke up. "I don't understand. You've never once mistaken a wild carpet for a tame one."

"And I still haven't, my senior," the Master answered. "I know the differences all too well to make such an error as that."

"Then, I don't understand Master," the senior looked even more puzzled. "You said that this was nothing more than a mix-up on our end."

"I'm afraid, apprentices, that this was no mere mistake, but a deliberate act," the old one answered. "I believe someone, or something, used magic to make the switch, possibly after I made the final check before giving the carpets to Prince Zandar."

At this, all the apprentices gasped and began talking at once, stopping only when the Carpet Master raised his hand to signal silence. One of the other seniors spoke.

" But Master," he said. "If this was done on purpose, why did you tell their highnesses otherwise?"

"I had no wish to frighten them," the Master explained. "And I could not bring myself to say anything of my suspicions without solid proof."

"But, whoever did this," another apprentice spoke. "I mean suppose...do you think they'll try again?"

"No, I don't believe they will," the Master assured the young men. "Whoever did it obviously failed at their objective. The princessess are well and they accomplished what takes months to acheive. And they have reported nothing missing from their persons, either. No, I don't think this individual will try again. Why repeat a ploy that did not work the first time?"

"Master, why would anyone do this to begin with?" the oldest senior spoke up. "To hurt the princesses?"

"Well now," the old one spoke. "That is the question of the hour, isn't it? Why, indeed? And of course, who? For both questions, I'm afraid I have no answer to. Not even a guess. That may be something we may never know."

That, and the knowledge of whether this was an just an isolated incident.

Back in Enchancia...

_ "It was just a simple mix-up, that's all..."_ A mix-up indeed, though not so simple, and not an oversight, as he had hoped would be the conclusion they'd come to. Of course he had no way of knowing the old geezer had seen through his illusion, as he had deactivated the viewing spell as soon as the royal children left the workshop, so he did not hear the conversation the Carpet Master had with his apprentices. Even if he had, he wouldn't have worried about anything being traced back to him. He made doubly sure of that.

In terms of simple, though, it had been simple enough for Cedric, the royal enchanter, to cast a spell to switch out one of the tame carpets for a wild look-alike, just as it was easy enough to plant an instruction in the carpet that it was to allow Princess Sofia and only one other royal to ride it. Even the plan itself was a piece of cake: the carpet was supposed to shake off its riders, or get them lost, and then he would swoop in and offer to save the day, in exchange for Sofia's Amulet of Avalor. And it worked...only too well.

Of course, Cedric couldn't have foreseen the amulet summoning Princess Jasmine of Agrabah to help the princesses. Nor could he have known that they would tame a carpet in less than an hour, an impossible feat in and of itself, from what he understood listening to the Carpet Master. Taming a wild carpet usually took weeks, if not months. Neither the old man nor his lackeys could figure out how the feat had been accomplished.

Cedric had a good idea, though. The amulet had to be the answer. If it could summon legendary princesses and give two girls the power to tame a wild carpet in less than a day, that meant it had to be more powerful than even he could have ever imagined.

And made him all the more determined to possess the jewel.

Still, there was a part of him, albeit a very small part, that regretted putting Princess Sofia in danger. He never wanted to harm Sofia and in fact, that small part of Cedric was actually beginning to grow fond of her. Unlike the other members of the royal family, she never looked down her nose at him, helped him out whenever she could (and most of the times made it look as though she had not helped him at all), and considered him one of her friends. He even knew that her mispronunciation of his name, "Mr. Cee-dric," was not anything malicious or deliberate on her part but rather a term of endearment. He still kept the gold star she gave him after she was his apprentice for a short while and considered it one of his treasured possessions, even though he would rather curse himself with a permanent Meddlesome Myrtle rash than ever admit that out loud to anyone, even himself.

But this was not the time nor the place for cheesy sentimentality. He needed to get back to work, to come up with another way to get his hands on that jewel. Soon, he thought, soon he would find a spell powerful enough to help him acheive his goal. It was just a matter of time, really.

The amulet would soon be his. Oh, yes. And so would all of Enchancia.


End file.
